


Grab Your Partner

by 26stars



Series: How I Met Melinda [8]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: AU Meeting, Alternate Universe - College/University, F/F, It's an imperfect AU but oh well, young Melinda
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-06
Updated: 2018-04-06
Packaged: 2019-04-19 03:52:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14228649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/26stars/pseuds/26stars
Summary: Daisy, Jemma, and Fitz are in the same ballrooom dance class at college. Daisy is partnered with a cute senior whose name is Melinda.





	Grab Your Partner

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Florchis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Florchis/gifts).



> Set in a ballroom dance class bc I’m Basic but also because the ballroom dance class at my university was infamous for resulting in couples. Was excited to see how a young Melinda might have interacted with the bus kids, but it still feels a little weird XD

“We could have signed up for yoga.”

“Daisy…”

“We could have been in a morning class in our pajamas instead of an evening class in slacks…” Daisy goes on, looking around at the sixty-plus students milling around the university’s ballroom.

“And then Fitz would have had to muddle through some other fitness class all by himself,” Jemma reminds her, fixing the hairpins holding her hair out of her face, “since his physics classes conflicted with nearly everything else, and we both would have felt awful about it.”

“No, _you_ would have felt awful about it,” Daisy responds pointedly. “I would have just teased him about taking this class until the cows came home…”

“But you’re a better friend than that, of course,” Jemma said, shoving Daisy good-naturedly with her elbow as she finishes fiddling with her hair. “And remember, we decided that embarrassing ourselves together was better than embarrassing ourselves alone.”

“I’d still rather be wearing pajamas…” Daisy mutters, shuffling in her new flats, purchased specifically for the class.

“No one says you can’t wear pajamas to this class too…”

That’s not true of course. The dress code for the class had been emailed out the week before, with a bolded line that read **Business casual attire or nicer—students not in compliance will not be permitted to enter class for the evening.** Considering Daisy had only one pair of slacks and a single not-a-T-shirt top in her wardrobe, she guesses that she knows what she’ll be wearing for the next fifteen Monday nights of her spring semester.

“Ah, there’s Fitz,” Jemma says suddenly, pulling Daisy’s attention and her hand towards the door.

“Just in time?” their friend says, shucking off his backpack and jacket and dropping them on one of the tables along the wall designated for collecting everyone’s things.

“Yeah, teacher hasn’t even shown up yet,” Daisy says, scanning the room while Fitz pulls Jemma into a brief one-armed hug and kisses her cheek.

As if on cue, a squeal of microphone feedback splits through the room’s speaker system, and all the students quickly cover their ears, groaning and grimacing. Through her fingertips, Daisy hears the feedback cut off, followed by the sound of someone tapping the mic and then blowing into it.

“Ok, this thing on now?” a man’s voice carries across the sound system. From a closet at the end of the room, a man in a coat and tie emerges, fitting a headset microphone over one ear as he ascends a small platform that is just a little higher than the rest of the room. “All right, bring it in, everyone! Someone please shut the doors, too.”

By the time everyone has clumped around the small stage, three other adults have joined him on the platform. The man introduces himself as Mr. Barton and points out his TA’s by first names only—Nat, Sharon, and Steve.

“We’ve had a record number of students sign up for this class this year and had to cap every section at 70 students,” Mr. Barton is saying as his TA’s step down to mingle through the standing crowd, passing out printed syllabi. “If you can tell after tonight that you don’t want to be in this class, drop it by Friday if you want the full tuition refund and so that someone else can have your spot. Otherwise, you’ll know after tonight what you’re getting into, and the four of us do expect effort if you want a passing grade.”

“How does anyone even grade a ballroom dance class…” Daisy mutters, taking the syllabus offered by the blonde TA.

The syllabus explains this—a couple of assignments that are essentially performances with a partner, then there is a short, written test at the end of the semester, plus a required “final exam”, which is in fact a formal event that everyone will receive free admission to but be required to dance at.

“ _We could have been in yoga_ …” Daisy mutters again as Mr. Barton reads through this part, but Jemma just shushes her.

“Now, we did our best to split classes 50/50 men and women,” Mr. Barton says after they’ve looked through the entire syllabus together, “but since more girls than boys usually sign up for this course anyway, your section has about ten more women than men. We’re going to get this out of the way now—everyone will have a designated partner for the duration of the semester. This is partly to cut down on shuffle time between exercises and partly so that you become more relaxed while dancing over time. That being said, I’m setting my timer for five minutes.” Mr. Barton pulls out his phone and turns it around, showing the time cued up on his timer app. “I want everyone to go put their syllabi with their things and then find a partner. Once you’ve got one, go stand together against one of the walls. If you haven’t found one by the time this time runs out, Natasha is going to pair you up herself. Ready, go.”

The room bursts to life as everyone moves at once, rushing to their bags and grabbing hands.

“Well Fitz, I think we know what has to happen,” Daisy says, catching his arm and linking hers through it. “Jemma, we love you, but it’s time for you to learn to be your own person.”

“Ha bloody ha,” Jemma says, rolling her eyes as she grabs Fitz’s other arm. “Go make a friend, Daisy. I’ve heard this class is good at introducing couples to each other.”

Daisy sticks out her tongue as she releases Fitz’s arm and dives back into the crowd while Fitz and Jemma move towards a wall. There are still plenty of unpaired people, but every guy in sight seems to be already engaged by at least two girls apiece…

“Thirty seconds left!” Mr. Barton says into his microphone.

“Are you taken?” someone suddenly asks behind her, and Daisy turns to see a dark-haired girl about her height standing behind her, one impatient hand resting on her hip.

“No?” Daisy says slowly, and the girl immediately grabs her hand.

“I’ll learn the boy steps, if it matters to you,” she says, leading Daisy quickly over to a wall.

“I, uh…” Daisy feels like she _should_ be protesting more, should have an opinion about this, but she suddenly can’t come up with anything.

“Ten, nine…” Mr. Barton counts down as they reach the wall, and the other woman turns to face her, flashing a brief smile.

“I’m Melinda,” she says, as if this explains everything.

“Daisy,” Daisy responds automatically.

“And time’s up!” Mr. Barton calls, fiddling with his phone. “You’ve now got one minute to talk to your partner and get your chitchat out before we start learning the first dance. Go.”

“Needed a PE credit?” Melinda asks knowingly, crossing her arms and turning slightly towards Daisy, who sighs.

“Yeah, my friends and I signed up for this one together,” she says, glancing at Fitz and Jemma across the room. “But you know, three’s a crowd…You?”

Melinda shrugs. “Well, I was supposed to be taking this class with a friend too, but he bailed on me at the last minute. Studying abroad this semester.”

“You could still drop?” Daisy suggests. “There’s always yoga…”

But Melinda shakes her head. “Nah, I get my gym time in on my own. This is more fun.”

“And that’s one minute!” Mr. Barton says suddenly, stepping down from the stage and moving to the center of the room. “First up tonight, everyone, we’re going to be learning the basic waltz step. Sharon, if you could join me?”

Daisy catches Jemma making a pointed expression at Melinda while Mr. Barton and Sharon demonstrate the basic posture of the dance, and Daisy sticks out her tongue at her friend again, which Melinda apparently notices.

“Those are the friends?” she mutters, and Daisy sees her looking at the right people.

“Yeah. I didn’t know anyone when I started here in the fall, but Jemma was my potluck roommate, and the rest is history.”

“You don’t come home to a sock on the doorknob too much?”

Caught by surprise, Daisy buries her laugh in a snort behind one hand. “Oh my god, if ever…”

“Okay, everyone go ahead and assume the position,” Mr. Barton directs, now having demonstrated the basic box step, and the students slowly spread out from the walls to fill the dance floor.

“Well, the best way to get them back for leaving you out in the cold will obviously be to totally show them up here,” Melinda says, taking Daisy’s hand and pulling her towards a vacant patch of hardwood. Daisy’s not sure why she feels her cheeks flush slightly even before Melinda turns to her and moves Daisy’s hand to her shoulder, placing her own hand on Daisy’s side and moving their other hands to grip each other.

“This okay with you?” Melinda asks, a little late, because one of the TA's is already passing by to check their form.

“So Melinda,” the redheaded instructor—Nat—says as she passes by with a knowing smirk, “repeating the class just to show up the freshmen now?”

“Easy A,” Melinda calls after her, smirking right back.

“Repeating?” Daisy repeats as Natasha moves off to help another couple.

“I was enrolled in this class last year with the same friend,” Melinda explains, stepping forward in the box step they were just taught. Daisy quickly mirrors the move, and Melinda leads them easily through the basic six-count step. “We both got busted for a prank near the end of the semester though, and the teacher flunked us.”

“I have so many questions,” Daisy says admiringly, “but we’ll start with, why did Mr. Barton let you back in this semester, then?”

“He wasn’t teaching this class last year,” Melinda says. “Mr. Fury got promoted to Dean over the summer though, so it looks like his teaching days are behind him. Plus, Natasha may or may not have been helping us. I’m sure that had a little to do with it.”

It’s not long before Mr. Barton calls for Steve to turn on some music, and Tchaikovsky’s Waltz of the Flowers bursts out of the speakers.

“So does this mean that you already know all the steps and you’re going to help me get an easy A too?” Daisy says as Melinda leads her patiently through the steps again and again.

“Nothing about me is easy,” Melinda says with a wink. “But I do like to win.”

Daisy is startled by the flutter in her stomach that follows those words, and she glances away quickly, her gaze inadvertently landing right on Jemma, who has managed to dance with Fitz in her direction.

“Still wish you were in yoga?” Jemma mouths over his shoulder, and Daisy grins this time instead of sticking out her tongue.

**Author's Note:**

> To be continued?


End file.
